Return to Cyberspace
by Just A Writer For Now
Summary: It's back to Cyberspace for Jackie, Matt and Inez. Dr. Marbles has horrible news for them and there might not be enough time to stop Ledge from destroying all of Cyberspace. Will this be the Cybersquad's last mission?
1. Life After Cyberchase

**Hey everybody. I've never written fanfiction and I didn't really know how much of it existed until I was so bored one day that I was watching old Cyberchase reruns on PBSKids. After my computer had gotten too slow to load any more videos, I googled Cyberchase and found fanfiction. All of the stories were really good and I decided to write my own. It's about what happens about six years later, when the kids haven't been to Cyberspace in years and haven't visited each other either. Note: I've always been a big Inez/Matt fan, so that's where the story might head towards the end. **

***DISCLAIMER* I do not own Cyberchase. I do not own the characters. WNET Thirteen does, I believe, and other companies too. I do own this fanfiction and I do not want to be sued. :P **

Matt hadn't been in Cyberspace for six years, hadn't seen Jackie or Inez for about five, and hadn't gotten an update from Motherboard in about two. He was seventeen now, and was going to the city high school. It wasn't like he'd quit on Cyberspace, or broken up with his friends; life just happened and people got busy and went on different paths. With Hacker having disappeared for what appeared to be forever, there wasn't a need for Matt to be in Cyberspace. And while he and the two girls had kept visiting for a while, after about a year, they'd just kind of given up. Sure, Matt missed it all, but he had school and basketball and friends to deal with.

_That's just how life goes, I guess_, he thought, looking briefly at the picture of the "Cybersquad" Digit had snapped. He kept it on his bulletin board still, even though his mom had asked why he did since he and Jackie and Inez were no longer friends.

"Isn't it a bit silly to refuse to take down a picture of you and two girls you never see anymore? Besides, you three never really hung out much anyways." She'd cajoled.

Hung out much anyways? It was hard drawing the line between the hours he'd spent in Cyberspace with his friends and the hours he'd spent in "real life" with his other friends and his family. He couldn't argue with his mom that he'd spent most of a year in Cyberspace with Jackie and Inez, fighting to save the universe's existence. She wouldn't believe him and he really didn't feel as though he should reveal the existence of Cyberspace. He kept up the picture to partly remind himself that it did exist, and it wasn't some odd fantasy of an eleven-year-old boy who'd spent too much time on the computer. Matt also kept it up because he didn't have any grudge against Jackie or Inez; they were his friends, and you keep pictures of friends on your bulletin board.

Matt looked at his watch. It was time for basketball practice. He grabbed his backpack and ran down the stairs, hitting his head on the low ceiling yet again.

"I'll be back, Mom," he yelled, not waiting for her reply. He ran down the street, hung a right then kept running until he reached the school.

Basketball season had only just begun, so everyone was still a little rusty.

"Come on, move it gents!" The coach called as the team lounged around on the benches, catching up with each other. The practice got under way, and went just as any other basketball practice went. Until the end that is. A gaggle of trim, petite girls walked in right as the basketball team was cooling down.

Someone on the team wolf-whistled. It was the cheerleaders. Matt glanced over at them, but ended up looking at them longer than he thought he would because of the girl in the back of the group. It was a short black girl with her hair up in a yellow scrunchie. It couldn't be Jackie?

Matt took his time putting his gear in his backpack. He took off his sweaty t-shirt and put on a sweatshirt with his high school's logo on it. He downed a bottle of water. He did everything he could to stay behind long enough to catch the girl who looked a lot like Jackie.

The girls were getting their pompoms in order and giggling with each other.

"Hey Matt! Come to my place for some extra hoops?" Matt's friend Josh was at the door of the gymnasium.

"Nah, I've had enough for the day," he said, laughing a little.

"How 'bout to study for that test on Friday?"

"Um, not today."

Josh looked over at the cheerleaders. "Lookin' for a date?"

"Not exactly. Who's that girl over there?"

"Dunno. She's in my English class. She's a transfer student. That's all I know. Why? Think she'll like you because she doesn't know how weird you are?"

Matt shoved Josh. "Dude, it's not like that. She looks like a friend of mine from when I was a kid. I wanna see if it's her."

"That's why you have Facebook." Josh laughed.

"That's why we had Squak pads," Matt said, without thinking. Oops.

"What pads?"

"Um, it's a joke we had when we were kids. Josh, get going. I'll hang out with you some other time."

"Be like that." Josh jogged out.

Matt edged his way over to the chattering girls. He slunk around the bleachers until he was right behind the girl.

"Hey." He said, a little louder than usual.

She turned. They stared at each other for a minute

"Matt?"

"Jackie?"

"OHMIGOSH!" She squealed. "It's been forever! I didn't know you went to school here. I thought you'd go to that small school near your farm."

"Nah, I had to come here. They've got more sports for me to do. Besides, my family moved to the city. We sold the farm." He grinned at her.

"You know what would make this perfect?" Jackie asked. "If Inez was here."

"Yeah. I kind of lost touch with her. Like you."

"I'm still in touch with her."

"What? Did you guys go to the same school?"

"Well, all of middle school. Then I moved to another state with my dad. Now I'm back here with my mom. Inez would be here at this school if she wasn't too smart for her own good. She goes to that private school for gifted kids that's in Spencer. It's about a half hour away. She takes the train. I met up with her a couple weeks ago. She's just the same as always. But I thought you guys would have kept in touch."

"Why?"

Jackie looked at Matt for a minute, her lips pursed. She seemed to be on the verge of saying something, but thought better of it. "Oh, you know, you guys always got along so well."

Matt raised an eyebrow. He distinctly remembered arguing more with Inez than with Jackie and even though he'd teased her out of childish flirtatiousness, he kind of thought she hadn't gotten the message and only disliked him for it.

"Never mind," Jackie said, waving her hands. "I gotta go practice. We should hang out this weekend. I'll call Nezzie and we can get together at my house. It's over on Circuit Court. You know, by the big house with lime green shutters and a smashed mailbox?"

"Yeah," Matt said, trying not to laugh. One of the basketball team members had smashed that mailbox while they were out on Halloween last year. "I'll be there."

Matt turned and left, an odd feeling spreading over him. Wasn't it weird that after he'd thought about the Cybersquad only a few hours ago, suddenly Jackie appeared on the cheerleading squad to his basketball team? It was as coincidental as their first meeting. What was going on? He didn't have time for the whole "saving the world" shindig. But along with the odd feeling, a hot bubble exploded in his stomach. He would see Nezzie. Not that he still had a crush on her or anything; it had been years since they'd seen each other. And she'd never really reciprocated his feelings. Not that there had been feelings.

_Chill out Matt_ he told himself _Don't get yourself worked up over seeing some girl you liked such a long time ago. You're as bad as a cheerleader. _That snapped him out of his mood pretty quickly. But still, Saturday couldn't come fast enough for him.

* * *

On Saturday, Matt woke up late, as usual. He's been out late at Josh's house the night before. Matt wasn't the biggest partier, but he had been there until one in the morning. Josh's parents had been gone for the weekend, so he threw a huge bash. Most of the cheerleaders had shown up but Jackie hadn't. Matt had spent a few minutes trying to decide whether she just wasn't a partier or just hadn't been invited.

Once Matt had been up for more than a couple of minutes, he jumped in the shower and got ready for the day, putting on a lime-green sweater and jeans for old times' sake. He looked at himself in the mirror and stuck his tongue out at his reflection. He needed his hair cut; it looked too shaggy and ragged, like some dumb skater's hair.

_Sorry Slider_ Matt thought with a smirk. Cyberspace memories had been filtering in his mind since Tuesday when he'd seen Jackie. Not long after their meeting he'd remembered Slider and his emotionless attitude. He'd wondered how the 'borg was doing.

After itching his chin-deciding that he didn't need to shave just yet-Matt left the bathroom and went downstairs, avoiding hitting his head on the ceiling for once.

"Hey Mom," he said, as he grabbed a banana for breakfast.

"Hey honey. Come in late last night?"

"Yeah. Over at Josh's. He had a party for the basketball team."

"Mmmmm. Stayed out of trouble?" Matt's mom asked, looking at him hard.

"Oh yeah. Don't worry Mom. I always stay out of trouble." He swallowed the last bite of banana.

"Of course you do. What are you doing today?"

"I'm going over to a friend's house."

"Who?"

"Jackie. Remember her? The girl I used to hang out with in middle school?"-"The one on your bulletin board?"-"Yeah. She moved here and we met up at school and I'm going over to her house. Inez is supposed to show up too."

"Well, whatever you want Matthew."

"Thanks Mom. I'll be home tonight. Dad coming home?"

"Yes. He'll be back from the conference by tonight."

"Great. See you."

Matt grabbed his faithful backpack and ran out of the house.

**I have lots more written already, but I'm making sure it's all in good shape and everything. Plus, I don't want to put it all out, get writer's block and then forget I even have the story. If you like it, tell me! If you don't, you can tell me, but it won't stop me from finishing the story, sorry. This isn't going to be too romantic, so be prepared for some version of action in the upcoming stuff. **


	2. This Mad-house of a Cyberchase

**We're Baaaaaack! And now the plot moves somewhat forward, and Inez and Matt avoid their feelings. (I'm not great in the romantic department, just forewarning.) Someone asked if Ledge was going to be in here. If you don't want to read this chapter-but I think you should 'cuz it's supposed to be entertaining-the answer is YES! (He'll show up next chapter.) I didn't even know he existed until last month and he is rising fast on my list of awesome baddies. Without further ado...**

Jackie's house was a plain white house, hidden behind the green-shuttered monstrosity. Matt walked up to it apprehensively and knocked on the door, glad that her mailbox hadn't been smashed.

A woman with dreadlocks opened the door. "Yes? Are you Matt?"

"Yes. Ma'am." He added as an afterthought. "Jackie asked me to come over."

"She said you'd be over. She's upstairs. Come in."

Matt walked in and didn't pay attention to anything in the house, just plunged up the hall stairs. They led up to a big room with a couple of armchairs and a couch and a big television. It seemed to be like his dad's "man-cave", but without the sports memorabilia and empty chip bags. Jackie was sitting on the couch, flipping through TV channels.

"Hey Jackie," Matt said, looking around the room. Another girl was in the corner, skimming through a magazine. She was tall, with short brown hair. She was probably Hispanic, but it wasn't blatantly obvious.

"Inez?" Matt asked. The girl whipped around.

"Matt?" she ran over to him and flung her arms around him for a split second. Matt's stomach turned over in a pleasant whirl. Inez backed away from him, a smile on her face.

"It's been forever, hasn't it," she said. He nodded, trying to think of something to say. Jackie turned the TV off.

"Well," Jackie said, coming over to the pair. "It's great we're all here again, but is it just me or does it feel like Cyberspace needs us again?"

"Why?" Matt asked. "I got an update from Dr. Marbles a couple of months ago. It was short, but he hopped out of a portal into my room, told me everything was dandy and then said he had to go."

"But that was a couple months ago," Inez said, "Dr. M visited me too, and I'm sure he stopped by Jackie's, but don't either of you think it's really weird that after six years, we're suddenly together, back to the way things were? No offense to Cyberspace, but it's totally possible for them to manipulate the circumstances. Not that I wouldn't jump at the chance to go back. I miss it there."

"You miss it?" Matt asked.

"You don't?"

"Well, I liked it while we did it, but I got busy. It doesn't worry me much anymore."

"I told you, Inez, Matt went mellow."

"Well, I think we should at least go back once for a visit." Inez said. "For old times' sake. For a walk down memory lane."

"That's a good idea, Nezzie," Matt said, "But if you remember, we gave our Squak pads back to Motherboard. We have no method of communication."

"Hey, if there's anything you should remember, it's that I _really_ don't like it when you call me Nezzie."

"Oh, but Jacks and Sly always could?"

Inez had the grace to blush.

_She still has a crush on that cyborg who we haven't seen for years? Well, I guess I still have a crush on her. But it's different. _

"Matt does have a poi-" Jackie broke off as a portal emerged from the television. Dr. Marbles stepped out of it.

"Well, it's about time you three reunited. Cyberspace is falling apart. We could use you right now."

"Why'd you have to wait for us to 'reunite'?" Matt demanded. "Couldn't you have just gotten each of us separately if you'd needed us?"

"Motherboard's been losing power ever since the last time I saw you three. We've been saving as much as we could to make one last portal. You three had to be together so we could bring everyone back. We need your help."

"But, can we come back?" Inez asked, her eyebrows pushed together. Matt was glad to know that he wasn't the only one worrying about that.

"It doesn't matter," Dr. Marbles said, "You have to come to Cyberspace to help us defeat Hacker once and for all. He's back, and it's worse than before."

"It doesn't matter?" Matt said.

"No," Jackie said, squaring her shoulders. "It doesn't. We promised a long time ago to help whenever it was needed. I don't know about you guys, but I never back out of my promises."

Inez sighed. "Oh, alright."

Marbles booted up a portal.

* * *

The swirling sensation of being transported from one world to another was all too familiar to Inez. She hadn't done it since she was ten, but it wasn't like she'd forgotten it. Just like she hadn't forgotten Matt, or Jackie for that matter. She saw the two floundering in the mess of computer codes while she kept her arms crossed and floated a little more easily. Marbles couldn't be seen.

_It's okay_ Inez thought _He's probably ahead of us. We never did portal travel easily. _

The three friends landed in Control Central. But the screen where Motherboard usually stayed on was black. The circuits and controls underneath her were corroded with acid.

"What's going on?" Jackie said, looking at the smoking mess in front of her.

"Oh thank goodness!" A tired and somewhat rusty Digit appeared from a corner. "Where's the Doc?"

"Ummm," Inez said, "We're not sure."

"Oh no! He probably got hit by a Decoder!" Digit wailed.

"A what?" Matt asked.  
"A Decoder, Matt," Inez said, her familiar know-it-all attitude emerging. "They're glitches in portals that decode a cyborg and recode him in a different place from where he was supposed to. It means Dr. Marbles could be anywhere. Or anytime."

"Well, not to ignore the Doc, but he can take care of himself," Digit said, "We've got bigger fish to fry. Hacker's back."

"Wasn't it expected that he would come back?" Inez asked. "I mean, we never actually defeated him. He just seemed to…disappear."

"Exactly. But it seems like he didn't disappear and give up. He disappeared to concoct a plan."

"A plan?" Jackie asked.

_Just like old times: quick arrival, Hacker making evil plans, a quick debriefing before it's off to save the world. _Inez almost laughed. But her laughter was short lived.

"Hacker has destroyed Motherboard!" Digit announced.

"WHAT!?" All three yelled.

"He destroyed her. Only an hour ago. The Doc had already left to boot up the one last portal we could afford. This is it; Cyberspace as we know it is ending."

"But Digit," Inez said, "What are we here for?"

"There's a chance we can retrieve Motherboard. Hacker compressed her into a file and deleted it. He's never done it before because we'd wired Motherboard to be protected from any deletes. But he spent the past six years searching and spying on us, apparently, until he discovered a route into her hard drive that we hadn't blocked. The past few months Motherboard had been getting weaker and weaker, but we thought that is was because her power supply needed repaired. But before Dr. Marbles could repair her, Hacker deleted her, but there're still traces of her floating around in cyberspace."

"You mean she's floating IN Cyberspace?" Matt asked, incredulously.

"No, no. Not Cyberspace the place we're in. Cyberspace, the virtual computer world. Sort of like a portal. It's not a place you can actually be in, physically. It's a virtual area. It's where data and computer codes are stored. Motherboard's encoding is still there, but it's get fainter by the minute and I don't know how to put it back together and the Doc is gone and THIS COULD BE THE END OF CYBERSPACE!"

"Dig, calm down. We'll never get anything done by panicking," Inez said. "Do you know anything about recoding Motherboard?"

"Not much more than I just told you. See, when you go to the controls, you can somewhat retrieve different aspects of Motherboard." Digit pressed a few corroded keys and a faint outline of the ruler of Cyberspace appeared. It faded quickly. "But Doc said that he could fix it, he just needed your help to find the parts and to round them up. But I don't know what parts, and I don't know what to do if we had the parts. Doc said that at best we have three days."

"At the worst?" Jackie asked.

"At the worst, we're already doomed."

"Well, that makes me feel good," Jackie said, starting to pace around the room.

"What we need is someone who's handy with computers." Inez said.

"I've been trying to reach Coop or Slider," Digit said, "But they won't answer. I don't know if it's just me, because it seems as though Control Central's signal has been spotty for days. I think Hacker might have messed up our connection to the outside. But I just don't want to leave. I feel like if I leave, Hacker could fly in here and finish the job he started."

"It's okay, Digit," Matt said, "This is what we're here for. We'll go and get Coop or Slider. Where's the two-seater?"

"The two-seater?" Inez said. "But that only fits two, obviously."

"I know," Matt said. "Look, one of you needs to stay behind with Digit. I know he's fine by himself, but this isn't just like old times. It sounds like more's at stake."

"Whaddya mean, 'More's at stake'?" Jackie said. "Back in the day it was life or death too."

"Mattie's got a point," Digit interrupted. "The Hacker wasn't as smart as he is now. He's upgraded himself and gotten better henchmen. Last time I checked, Ledge and Hacker had mended their differences and were working together. They're more ruthless. It's not just a game of revenge. They're deadly serious and I do mean deadly."

"See?" Matt said. "Now let's stop hanging around and get moving. Jacks, are you staying behind?"

Jackie hesitated. Inez faced her abruptly.

"Look, Jacks. If you want it to be like old times, you'll stay behind." Inez really, really, _really_ wanted to go. Jackie had always been okay with not being in on all of the action. Inez, on the other hand, couldn't play the waiting game. Besides, she'd just found Matt after years of not seeing him. She wasn't about to let him jump right out of her hands so easily. Sure, she hated it when he teased her, or called her Nezzie, but it was because she wanted him to take her seriously for once. He only thought of her as a little sister, it was plain to see. Once this madhouse of a cyber-chase was over, she'd get him to see her in the right light.

"Fine, I'll stay behind," Jackie said, smiling slyly at Inez, as though she'd realized what was going through the younger girl's head.

"Let's GO!" Matt yelled, running for the hangar. Inez took off after him, wishing that she had worn something a little more sensible then clunky heeled boots.

_Well it wasn't like I thought we'd come back here on an urgent mission today_ Inez thought, as she and Matt reached the two-seater coupe. Matt jumped in the driver's seat.  
"Hey!" Inez protested.

"You drove last time," Matt laughed, giving her a devilish grin. "Now get in. We've got to hit Radopolis in less than an hour."

"Why less than an hour?" Inez demanded, strapping herself in. "Digit said that Doctor Marbles said that we have three days."

"He said that if we're lucky we have three days. The less time we spend on this the better. Besides, last time we were here, I made it to Radopolis in an hour, with middle speed. I always wanted to see if I could get this baby going faster."

"Matt." Inez scolded, but Matt had already thrown the coupe into gear. They rocketed off into the physical Cyberspace.

* * *

Cyberspace hadn't changed much, but Inez really didn't have enough time to look around to compare. She thought for a minute about how Digit had said Ledge had teamed up with Hacker. She'd never forgiven Ledge after that day in Sensible Flats when he'd double-crossed her. He's seemed like such a nice guy while she'd worked with him. But then he'd abandoned her. During that hour of working with him, Inez had realized that Ledge was very smart. It was horrible that he was on the bad side. His brains paired with Hacker's new ruthlessness were not a good combination.

"Would you slow down?" Inez screeched as Matt swerved violently to the left.

"No," Matt said, hitting the accelerator harder. "Quit being such a spoilsport Nezzie. If there's one thing I missed about coming here it's that I could drive before I was sixteen. And there aren't even any rules about the driving. I still don't have my license back on Earth. But here? It doesn't even matter."

"If there's one thing that I _haven't_ missed about coming here, it's you calling me Nezzie. Why do you do it, anyways?"

"Ehh, it just suits you."

"Well, Matthew, I don't like it."

"You don't like a lot of things. Me speeding, me calling you Nezzie. Is there anything about me that you do like?"

Inez didn't say anything for a minute. She wanted to blurt out that she liked almost everything about Matt, but that would just have been awkward. "I like that you always just jump in before planning. What with me and Jackie, there needs to be an impulsive one in the group."

The rest of the trip passed in silence. Matt yanked the coupe violently into Radopolis' atmosphere, then circled above until they saw Slider's garage.

"Here's some old memories," Matt commented, as they descended down to the roof of the building.

"Yeah," Inez said, noncommittally. She wondered what had happened to Slider after all of those years. She swung herself out of the coupe and Matt did the same. They found the stairs from the roof to the main floor of the garage.

**Kind of a cliffhanger, I know. How has six years affected Slider? No worries, we'll find out soon. :) Tell me what you think! I like to think people are reading the meanderings of my mind. **


	3. Ledge Returns

**The cliffhanger will be resolved! But another will take its place perhaps...read and find out!**

The stairwell was plain, just like everything Slider owned. A lone picture was on the wall, about halfway down, of Coop and Slider, the one from before Coop had disappeared. Slider looked to be about nine. Matt and Inez continued down the stairs until they reached the bottom. There were two doors: one to the actual garage and the other to the sparse living quarters in the back. Inez peeked through the door that led to the garage; it was cracked open. A tall, wiry young man was digging in the engine of a cyber-racer, throwing bits of metal around and swearing softly to himself. He had shaggy brown hair tied back in a small ponytail and a scruffle of a beard. He was wearing a grimy sweatshirt and cargo pants, with oil stains on his hands and face.

"Slider?" Inez asked. He looked so much older. He whipped around. The look on his face went from unconcerned to excited.

"Nezzie?" He jogged over to her. "Long time no see. I mean, it's a good thing, I guess. But I missed seeing you."

Inez laughed inwardly. Slider only served to make things awkward between her and Matt. She'd had a crush on him when they'd first met him, but it had fizzled out. Slider had asked her out during one of their last visits to Cyberspace several years ago. It had been a day when Jackie had to stay behind on Earth and Matt had stepped out to try out one of Slider's skateboards.

"Hey Nezzie," Slider had said abruptly, looking over at her. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Inez had blushed, because of the unexpectedness. But after a minute her mind cleared. She couldn't be Slider's girlfriend; they worked well together, but not in that way.

"Uhh, Slider," She'd begun, "I just don't think that we'd be a good couple."

"Oh." The silence became oppressive. "It's cool."

It hadn't ever been brought up again, but there was still an understanding of that moment between Inez and Slider. Slider still thought he had some kind of chance and Inez thought that Slider was finally over it.

"It _has_ been awhile," Inez agreed, smiling at him. But only for a split second; they were here for an emergency, not a visit. "Sly, we need your help."

"I should've known. The Cybersquad only comes when they're needed to save the world." Slider teased.

"No times for jokes Slider," Matt interjected. "Motherboard's been deleted."

Slider didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow. Matt and Inez explained the situation to him.

"So none of us know how Dr. Marbles planned on bringing Motherboard back." Inez finished.

Slider reached into the pocket of his cargos. He pulled out a cigarette and lighted it in one fluid motion. He took a drag off of it, his face thoughtful.

"Digit didn't give any clue as to what the Doc was planning?"

"None," Matt said, watching Slider smoke.

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Slider asked. "Not that I don't want to help; I do. But I don't have any idea as to what Dr. Marbles wanted to do."

"What about Coop?" Inez asked.

"He's not here right now." Slider said. "He's on another site, helping with some maintenance. He wouldn't know what to do either."

"Okay," Inez said, trying to be rational. "Maybe you don't know what Dr. Marbles was going to do. Do you know any way of retrieving Mother-B? It doesn't matter if it's the exact way Dr. Marbles had planned. Anything that'll bring her back."

"Well," Slider said, dropping his cigarette and grinding it into the floor with his heel. "I'd probably build a signal amplifier and amplify the area that her code seems the strongest in. I'd then create a file and pour all of the code into that file. From there, I'd have to rebuild the code. It'd be like a puzzle, fitting all the pieces back together. And if any pieces are missing, I'd have to either leave them blank or create new ones."

"Could you do it?" Inez asked, looking up at Slider.

"I could. It'll be a challenge, but I think I can do it. I'll need all of you guys' help."

"Consider it yours." Matt said, not the least bit grudging. "But you'll need some form of transportation; we only have the two-seater."

"We can't just squeeze together?" Slider grinned slyly at Inez. Matt frowned, but Inez ignored the both of them.

"I'm sure we can fit three in," she said, "But I just wish the Doctor hadn't gotten rid of the pod. Then we wouldn't have any of these problems."

"But then Jackie would be here," Matt pointed out. "And not that I don't want Jackie with us; I just think having an extra person to keep Digit grounded is a good idea, especially since right now he's probably going crazy."

* * *

Matt was right: Digit was going crazy. Motherboard's circuits under the controls had been overloaded by electricity and were now in a smoking heap. Digit was frantically trying to search through tem and put them back in their places.

"Digit, calm down." Jackie said, trying to pry the circuits from his feathers. "There's nothing we can really do right now. We're just here to protect Control Central."

"But that means we're just SITTING HERE!" Digit exclaimed, pulling at the circuits.

"I know: it bothers me too. But maybe, instead of fidgeting with Motherboard's parts and potentially making a mess that Slider, Coop or Dr. Marbles can't fix, we could block off any of the entrances we can't guard. That way if Hacker or Ledge appears, they can't just sneak in here."

"Well, okay," Digit said. Jackie breathed a sigh of relief.

"How many entrances are there to here?" She asked, hoping to distract Digit even longer.

"There are five. The one from below that opens to the garage, the one at the front, one on the side within the storage area, one from above for emergencies and the back entry that's really only used for trash and repair."

"Okay, then we need to block off the back one, the side one and the one from above. We have to keep the one below open for Matt and Inez when they get back and the front one we should keep because it'd be too obvious for Hacker to just pull up to the front."

Jackie sped off towards the storage area, intent on blocking off the entrance. It had started as a way to placate Digit, but the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to do something. She knew she was the one to be left behind and stay out of the action, and she was okay with that, but right now she was a little stressed. Having something to do would help her take her mind off of everything, because while she wasn't in on the action she was right next to Motherboard's smoking controls, serving a constant reminder as to what was at stake.

* * *

"Are we going or not?" Matt asked as Slider dug through one of the boxes on one of the many shelves in his garage.

"Chill out, Matt," Slider asked. "I will agree with the Doc that you have about three days left. Not that I'm a hundred percent sure, but if I was Hacker and deleted Motherboard's files, it'd take about three days for the last large chunks of code to dissolve into pieces small enough that couldn't be put back together. We've got time. Not a lot, but enough for me to see if I have…got it!" Slider pulled a small silver remote from out of the box. It had three buttons, red, yellow and blue.

"And that is…" Matt trailed off.

"It's a Gammanator. It translates codes. Hopefully, if we can find the other parts, this will help when we get around to putting the code back in the right place."

"Fantastic." Inez said, emotionless. "Let's go."

The trio headed up the stairs to the coupe. Matt swung into the driver's seat before anyone could say anything. He figured Inez and her little boyfriend could squeeze together and enjoy the ride. Biting his tongue to keep from saying anything, Matt watched as Slider dropped into the seat and Inez slid over next to him, the two snugly fitting in the seat meant for one. Slider was tall enough so that Inez, who was pretty tall for a fifteen year old girl only brushed against his shoulder.

Matt shifted the coupe into gear and they blasted upwards, emerging from Radopolis' atmosphere within seconds.

"Where to first, Sly?" Matt asked monotonously. He still didn't want to look at the pair, so instead he started fiddling with a couple of buttons that dealt with the air conditioning. A blast of cool air whooshed through the coupe.

"Matt!" Inez said. Matt hit the button again and the cool air disappeared.

"Well?" he continued.

"I dunno," Slider said, "Do either of you have a pad of paper?"

"In my backpack," Matt said, "Inez, would you grab it for him?"

Inez rummaged through the backpack, grabbing the notepad. Slider fidgeted in the seat, trying to get his hand in his pocket to find a pencil. Their heads bumped into each other. Holding her head at the spot where they'd head-butted, Inez handed Slider the notepad. He started scribbling in unreadable handwriting, sketching out something on the side of the paper, and simultaneously writing numbers in the margins. After a minute or two, he looked over at Matt.

"I'm assuming this is a no-smoking vehicle?"

"Nah, you can go ahead," Matt said. It was odd watching Slider light up his cigarette. Matt hadn't seen Slider for six years and now Slider was almost twenty, smoking and swearing like any stereotypical mechanic in the real world. Inez was watching him in what appeared to be fascination. Matt wondered if it was Slider's "bad boy"-ness that made him so attractive to Nezzie. He briefly considered taking up smoking.

"Sorry. It's a bad habit; but it does help me think," Slider apologized, tossing his cigarette out the window. "I think I've got it. I'll need a kappatron, an epsilondria, the gammanator—which we already have—a omegapulse and a lot of wire, Motherboard's old circuits and cryoxide."

"That's a pretty tall order," Matt whistled, "And I've got zero snelfus for the parts."

"Same here," Inez said and Slider nodded.

"I know. And it's not like we can make the money like we did that one time. I really don't want to steal the parts, but it's looking to be our only option. I can cobble together one or two without any trouble, but others…"

"Steal?" Inez stuttered. "Aren't we the 'good' guys?"

"We are," Matt said, "So we'll pay 'em all back later. Mother-B and Marbles can arrange for repayment afterwards. We just need these parts and we need them now. Where's the nearest part store?"

"The parts aren't at normal parts stores. They're somewhat…outdated. That's why we have to track them down and…borrow them."

"Steal them," Inez corrected Slider.

"Take them now and pay them later," Matt corrected Inez. "Look, I know it's crazy, but I think all of these part store owners will appreciate it later, when they find out why we did it. Just chill 'Nez, okay?"

Inez opened her mouth, but realized Matt hadn't called her Nezzie, so she shut it again.

"Let's try this one more time," Matt said, trying to bring the mood back together. "Where do we need to go, Sly?"

"Let's head to Topsy-Turvy Island. They should have the omegapulse there."

"There are stores on Topsy-Turvy?" Matt queried.

"Not exactly. It's hard to explain; let's just go. This one we don't have to really steal. I'll show you when we get there." Slider said, pocketing the pencil and notepad. "Let's just go."

* * *

"Damn!" Hacker exclaimed, turning off the communication satellite for a minute. "There's a way to get that damned Motherboard back online. I thought you said the route you used was infallible."

Ledge looked up from the newspaper her was reading. "It wasn't, and I told you that. I said it was_ almost_ infallible. Don't be hyperbolic, Hacker."

"Aren't you the one telling me to never underestimate those children?"

"Yeah, I am. They're a hell of a lot smarter than you think. Besides, they're not really kids anymore, which makes them a least a little smarter than last time we clashed."

"Then what do you propose?" Hacker prompted, wanting to throw Ledge's newspaper across the floor of the Grim Wreaker.

"Oh, I've got it covered," Ledge said. "You send Zapp and Zipp to Control Center to start breaking in all the entrances that Digit and Jackie boarded up."

"That's it?"

"Hacker," Ledge soothed, "I got it covered. No worries."

Ledge pulled out a Cytaser out of his pocket. "Seriously, Hacker, I got it covered."

* * *

Jackie and Digit collapsed into a heap.

"Glad that's done," Digit said, "Now we can take a break."

"Yeah," Jackie said, "Now it feels like we've done something. There's no way Hacker could get through what we just did."

* * *

The coupe pulled onto Topsy-Turvy Island smoothly, as Matt didn't feel like showing off to Slider, because the 'borg would just show him up later. Inez hopped out of the coupe before either of the guys could.

"So, what did you want to show us?" She asked, brightly.

Slider looked around, then spotted something.

"Get down!" He shouted, pulling Inez to the ground. Matt slid down next to them. Slider looked up at the sky. A lime green cyberpod was hitting the atmosphere and lowering down onto the island.

"No one comes to Topsy-Turvy unless they have to," he muttered.

"So what?" Matt hissed.

"So, it's probably someone we don't need to see," Inez whispered.

The pod disappeared into the trees.

"Okay, so here's the plan," Slider said, getting up off the ground and offering his hand to Inez. She took it and stood up. "Matt and I go find the omegapulse. Nezzie, you stay here with the coupe."

"Oh, so since I'm the girl, I stay by the car?" She snapped. Her hands flew on her hips.

"No," Slider said, trying not to laugh. It was the reason he still liked Inez, even if she had turned him down a while back. She was spunky, for lack of a better term. Full of life and attitude. She made him smile. "You stay behind in the coupe because I'm the only one out of us who knows how to get the omegapulse. I need some extra brawn, so I'm choosing Matt to help me out. I'm not being sexist; Matt's just stronger than you."

Matt flexed his muscles with a chuckle. Inez shoved him in the chest angrily.

"Why can't all three of us go?" she protested.

"I'm with Slider on this one," Matt said, "Look, we don't know who just landed; it could be anyone and leaving the coupe here, totally unguarded is a bad idea. If it's damaged, we don't have a way back at all. Remember what Dr. Marbles said? That there wasn't enough energy stored for portals? Someone needs to stay with the coupe and make sure whoever landed doesn't steal or wreck it. It has to be you because Slider knows how to find this part and I've got a little extra brawn. Simple."

"And you'll be safer," Slider said. He couldn't help it; he wanted to get a rise out of Inez.

"Because leaving the weakest of the group alone is safer," she retorted. "We don't even have our squak pads to keep in touch."

"That's a bummer," Slider said, "We'll have to make do without them. If anyone comes for you, hop in the coupe and fly away. Matt and I will be on the north side of the island, near the jagged cliffs."

"I wish I had a weapon," Inez grumbled.

"Motherboard was never big on giving us weapons," Matt pointed out.

"Yeah, but we were kids," Inez argued, "I think we can handle it now."

"I'd give you a cyberblaster, Nezzie, but we don't have one, so make do." Slider said. "Stay safe. Matt and I will be back in an hour or so."

Inez climbed onto the back of the coupe, her feet brushing the grass. A breeze whistled by. She watched Slider and Matt retreat into the woods ahead.

_Stay with the coupe_, Inez thought, _Easy enough. Leave the girl. It's not like she can defend herself if the mysterious pod owner comes and attacks. Stop it. We don't need to think about stuff like that. Let's think about other things. Matt…_

Inez smiled to herself, a little wryly. She wished she'd never lost touch with Matt. They'd lived relatively close to each other, yet they'd lost touch. If they hadn't, well, maybe they would be together by now. But no, they were caught in an awkward limbo where neither one would share their feelings.

"Well, I won't share my feelings. I don't even know what Matt feels." Inez said aloud. Thinking about him liking her made her gut twist.

Inez sat there for a half an hour, entertaining herself with what would happen if Matt and her would finally get together. She hugged her knees to her chest, realizing that she was spinning fantasies that would never happen and that was a little depressing. She wondered when the guys would get back. It would make her so happy to have Matt walk through the brush and say:

"Nezzie?"

But the voice wasn't Matt's.

Inez whipped around.

"Ledge!"

"The one and only."

**DUHN DUHN DUHN! I will say that was a better cliffhanger. :) I apologize if I made anyone angry with Slider smoking, but I read somewhere that he was the James Dean of Cyberchase and there's that whole iconic image of James Dean smoking...plus I could just see it fitting. So, no flaming, please. Besides that, what did you think?**


	4. In on the Action

**Hola! I'm posting pretty early-I planned on waiting 'til mid week but this week's gonna be hectic with work and Christmas and all that jazz, so I thought I'd post the next chapter early, in case I don't get around to updating for another week or two. Good news, however: the fic is finally complete! The ending is all tied up nicely and now to get down to editing it. (There's about five more chapters to go, if I don't add anything.) I'm going through withdrawal because this fic was my only writing project and now I'm all finished. Anyways, I'm getting off the topic and you're probably not reading this note anymore, so I'll see you at the bottom!**

The young man emerged from the brush, dusting off a twig from his dark hair. He was older, sleeker and had more of a manic look in his eyes. Inez barely looked at him; she jumped down from the back. It was time to motor away.

"Hold it Nezzie. I doubt you want to die."

Inez turned, with her hand on the coupe door. Ledge had a cytaser in his hand. The small gun could shoot out a stream of electricity that could range from a light shock to a kill blast.

"It's on kill," Ledge said, noncommittally, seeing her eye the cytaser. "Come here."

"Why?"

"You don't question the guy with the gun. Get over here."

Inez edged slowly over to Ledge, not sure what to make of the situation. Ledge aimed the gun at a point above her shoulder and shot. Inez felt the current hit above her.

"Get over here now, unless you want me to aim a little better next time."

Inez walked quickly over to Ledge.

"Turn your pockets out," he said. She obeyed, her eyebrows furrowed. "No squak pad, I see. How many of you kids are on the island?"

"Just me," Inez said. She hoped she sounded convincing. "My coupe broke down and I-"

Ledge interrupted. "Lies!"

"No, really, it's just me."

"Funny, I seem to remember intercepting three voices. That would mean Matt and what's that 'borg's name again? Strider? Slider? Yeah, Slider. Where are they?"

"I don't know," Inez said, "I dropped them off somewhere else. They're not on the island."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Ledge said. "I won't kill you just yet."

"I'm thrilled," Inez said, glaring at Ledge. Her heart was beating against her rib cage in a frenzy. She knew that it was a bad idea to split up and be left alone and weaponless. It was going to be okay; the guys would be back in a second. Right?

"Walk with me," Ledge said, genially. "Let's talk, Nezzie."

"Don't call me that," she said, not moving. "What's this about Ledge?"

"You expect me to tell you? What is this, child's play? I'm not about to tell you something I've been working my ass off for six years. Yeah, that's a great idea, tell my enemy how to defeat me." Ledge snorted. He moved to Inez and placed his arm around her shoulders. His other hand held the gun, which he nudged into her ribs. "I said, walk with me."

Inez started walking, her body stiff from fear and loathing. She jerked away from Ledge. "Don't touch me."

Ledge pulled away from her and touched something on his gun. "Fine. Just don't make any trouble Nezzie. Yes, I know, don't call you that."

Inez kept walking, her mind racing. What was going to happen?

* * *

Slider was racing around a clearing, trying to catch a gleamer with both hands. Matt was in a nearby cave at the bottom of one of the cliffs. He was trying to move a boulder. Slider had said that there was an old, broken omegapulse behind it.

"Back before you guys had ever come here I had been trying to find my father. Not long after he disappeared, I came here and tried to send out an electronic pulse that would signal him. I thought Hacker might have hidden him here, but you know how everything turned out."

Matt nodded.

"Well, I used an omegapulse to do the job. It's behind that boulder. I'm going to find a gleamer so that we can power the omegapulse back up."

"So we're not stealing?" Matt joked. "Inez is going to be upset."

"It's not technically stealing as of now. When I needed it the first time is another story."

Matt and Slider shared a smile.

Tugging at the boulder, Matt slammed his body into the rock wall of the cave, trying to wedge himself between the boulder and the wall to lever the boulder out.

"How did this get behind here in the first place?" Matt called to Slider who had finally caught the gleamer.

"There was a rock slide and I was lucky to get out. I know it wasn't damaged because after the rock slide it still sent out the pulse. Give me a sec and I'll come help you."

"No," Matt grunted, "I think I've got it." He lashed his feet out. The boulder edged away from him. Matt dropped to the ground and crawled into the space he had just created. There, in the corner was a rusted miniature satellite with a bunch of tiny wires running around the bottom. He grabbed it and pulled it out.

"Got it!" He called. Slider didn't answer. "Sly?"

"Shhhhh!"

Matt slunk out of the cave. Slider was hidden in some brush, a jar with the gleamer clutched in his hands. He was looking at a point far away.

"What is it?"

"I hear a voice." Slider said, slowly. "C'mon, let's check out our mysterious visitor."

The boys dodged and weaved through the undergrowth, trying to stay silent and hidden. Matt was somewhat better at it than Slider, as he had spent years on his farm sneaking up behind his older sister in the woods.

"So what's the big deal Ledge?" Inez's voice was close. The boys looked at each other worriedly. Edging closer to the sound of Inez, they caught sight of her walking with Ledge right behind her, the cytaser pressed into her back.

"I told you, I'm not revealing anything," Ledge snapped, shoving at her to walk faster. "I'm not Hacker. I don't tell my 'master' plan to the person who wants to defeat it."

Matt and Slider looked at each other, each thinking that they needed to run at Ledge and Inez, surprising Ledge enough to drop the gun, grab Inez and go. Without saying anything, they agreed on the plan. Both nodded quickly and snuck up behind the pair.

"It's a good thing I only need you," Ledge said, "Tracking down the boys on this island would be a pain."

Matt pounced on Ledge, grabbing for the gun. Slider ran at Inez, getting in front of her and shouting, "Run Inez, we've got it!" Inez didn't run though, she watched in horror as Ledge whipped away from Matt and fired the cytaser. The bolt of electricity hit Matt squarely in the chest. He fell to the ground.

"MATT!" Inez screamed.

"Inez, RUN!" Slider yelled, running at Ledge. Ledge dodged Slider, sending a kick to trip the 'borg. Slider slid ungracefully, landing flat on his back. "RUN!" he repeated.

Inez looked at Ledge for a split second, then Matt, then Slider. She turned, but Ledge shot the cytaser at her. He'd quickly whipped the setting down to a light shock. Inez felt a pulse go through her and she started. It was a very unpleasant sensation.

"I can just as easily flick it back to 'kill'," Ledge said, "Turn around and come back."

Inez walked back slowly. Slider began to get up, but Ledge sent a shock his way. When Inez reached Ledge, he brought her in front of him as a shield and held the gun to her head.

"Don't even think about moving, Slider," he threatened.

Slider sat back down on the ground.

"Now, I'll see you two later," Ledge said with a laugh, dragging Inez off. Her last view was of Slider glaring at Ledge and Matt lying on the ground twitching slightly.

"Matt?" Slider asked, once Inez and Ledge had disappeared. "You okay?" He crawled over to Matt, who was moaning slightly. Matt's hair was smoking and his eyes were shut in a grimace of pain. Slider touched Matt on the shoulder. His head flopped over and his body went limp.

_I sure as hell hope he's alive. _Slider thought nervously. He looked closely at Matt. His green sweater was rising and falling as he breathed. "At least you're alive." Slider said, but he knew Matt wouldn't answer. Slider was pretty sure that Matt was unconscious.

_What's going on? _Slider thought. _What's Ledge want to do with Nezzie?_

* * *

"What did you mean about Hacker getting new henchmen?" Jackie asked Digit, looking out the window of Control Central.

"He created two new bots, Zapp and Zipp. They're frappaccino twins."

"Fraternal?"

"Yeah, that." Digit was hunting in a cupboard for squak pads. He figured that having them would solve a lot of problems.

"They wouldn't happen to look like enormous athletes that wear different colored tank tops, would they?"

"Yeah. One's got orange skin and one's got blue skin. Why?"

Jackie didn't say anything for a second. Digit dropped the box he had been digging through.

"Why?" he repeated.

"Ummm, you might want to see this."

Digit flew over to the window. Zapp and Zipp had a sort of battering ram made out of the flotsam and jetsam of cybertrash floating by Control Central. They were heading for the top door.

"I don't care what the Doctor says," Digit said, going back to the cupboard. "It's an emergency and to heck with the moral high ground." Digit grabbed two cyberblasters from the bottom shelf. He tossed one to Jackie. "We've got Motherboard to defend."

"For Motherboard," Jackie said, her voice shaking a little. She'd never used a cyberblaster before and the cold metal felt a little awkward in her hands. But so be it. This was war.

* * *

Inez was trying not to cry. Her last view of Topsy-Turvy was of Matt lying on the ground. She couldn't tell if he was dead or simply unconscious. Had Ledge switched it to stun or kill? It had been so hurried in that minute she couldn't remember what setting the cytaser had been on. What if Matt was dead? She choked back a sob. Taking away the fact that she had a crush on the guy, he had been her childhood friend. Either way, it was crushing to think he could be dead. And not the good kind of crushing. It was cliché to say that her heart was breaking. Cliche or not, though, something inside of her was trying to shatter.

"Something wrong?" Ledge asked, conversationally. He was swerving through a cyber-dump, trying to avoid being hit while still maintaining a speed that Matt would be proud of.

"No."

Ledge didn't say anything for a second. "He's not dead."

"What?"

"Your little boyfriend. He's not dead. The cytaser was set to paralyze. Why would I kill someone who will be of the utmost importance in rescuing you?"

"Because you want someone to rescue me." Inez sneered. "What a master plan Ledge."

"Actually, I do. And actually, it is."

"Oh really?" Inez tried to play it cool, but her heart was beginning to repair itself. Matt was alive and Ledge was about to drop something crucial.

"Yeah. I hope you like being bait."

"What do you mean?"

Ledge didn't say anything. Inez's mind started racing. 'Hope you like being bait'? What was that supposed to mean? Wait a second. She'd be the distraction to keep Slider and Matt from finding the rest of the parts.

_Oh great._

The horizon of the Northern Frontier was visible. Inez shifted in her seat, trying to nonchalantly lean on the door handle. Ledge had locked it, but he had to unlock it sooner or later, and then she'd be ready to run. Not that she could actually leave the Northern Frontier, but she might be able to hide and keep Ledge from enacting whatever plan he wanted to try. And maybe she could find a way to reach Matt and Slider and keep them from trying to rescue her. She looked over Ledge.

"Nice try," Ledge said, watching her shift in her seat. "Welcome to your new home."

He leveled the cytaser, but instead of shooting Inez he snapped it forward so that it smacked her on the temple. She went limp. Ledge parked the coupe and stepped out. He went over to the other door and opened it. Inez flopped out onto the ground. Ledge lifted her awkwardly, flinging her over one shoulder.

_Not exactly the way to a girl's heart_, Ledge thought sarcastically. It made him smile for a second, but his face soon returned to its smooth expressionless way. He walked towards the Grim Wreaker, hefting Inez up higher onto his shoulder. She wasn't very heavy, but it was still awkward carrying a limp body several hundred yards.

Inez woke up with her hand clutched on the bump emerging on her head where Ledge had beaned her with the cytaser. She was suspended in midair. Jolting back, she hit…nothing. She lurched forwards and hit another invisible wall. She stomped down on what seemed to be the floor of her invisible prison. It was solid, even though there wasn't anything there. Inez felt around the space for a minute. She decided she was in an invisible bubble of some sort, and the bubble was in the corner of the main room of the Grim Wreaker. There was no one in the room besides her.

Inez fell to the floor of the bubble in a heap. There wasn't any option of escape. The boys didn't know where she was; even if they did head to the Northern Frontier on the hopes they'd find her, Ledge and Hacker were probably somewhere close. It was the perfect trap. There wasn't anyone nearby for her to take her frustrations out on. She was trapped and it wasn't like the old days where there was an easy way out. This was it.

_I wonder what's going to happen_, she thought, _Digit said that now it's deadly. I hope to God that I make it out of this alive. What it…?_ She tried not to finish the thought. Jackie was the one who did dramatic outbursts. She, Inez Garcia, did not do dramatic. She was the smart one, the somewhat calm one. She was supposed to come up with the solution to the problem. But it appeared that there was no solution to the problem facing her.

_It's okay_, she told herself, _We'll get out of this. Why did we have to lose our squak pads? Why did we have to forgo weapons? This shouldn't be like this. It's okay, though. It's okay; we'll get out of this in one piece. I hope..._

**See, that's not a cliffhanger, right? If you caught the Doctor Who reference, you win free imaginary cookies! Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did go back and edit the past three chapters. I didn't really change any wording, just kind of fixed the format so it was easier to read and gave the chapters names and added the fact that there's a tad bit of what's called "Sequences of Fantasy Action Violence" on the back of awesome videos. Well, anyways, what'd you think?**


	5. A Change of Plans

**Merry Christmas (Day late) everybody! I just wanted to thank all of you guys that have read, followed, reviewed and favorited this story. It's been really fun writing this story...but don't worry, we've still got plenty of ground to cover. To answer a few questions, Ledge is pretty much the main villain in this story. I don't have Wicked in this at all and Hacker doesn't cause too much trouble because, well, that might give away the ending and I don't want to do that. Anyways, this chapter expands a little bit on Jackie, who wasn't my most favorite, until I started writing about her and found out she was a bit of a badass. :) Enjoy!**

Slider crouched next to Matt, trying to get him to regain consciousness. Slider had stuffed the gleamer in the omegapulse to get the part working again before turning back to his friend. Matt had been conscious for a second after Ledge and Inez had sped off.

"Nezzie," he'd choked out, and then his eyes had rolled up as he'd fainted. It was really disturbing to watch Matt lie on the ground as if he was dead.

"C'mon dude, wake up," Slider muttered. Matt's backpack caught his eye. Maybe there was something in there.

_What did you do for someone unconscious anyways? _Slider thought, _Wipe their forehead with a cloth? _

Slider eased Matt onto his side and pulled the backpack off. He began rummaging through the bag. There was a bottle of Tylenol which Slider examined interestedly. Despite the similarities between him and the Cybersquad, the fact remained that he was a cyborg native of Cyberspace. He was not entirely familiar with Matt, Jackie and Inez's world. After a few seconds, he put the bottle back and kept looking. The notepad was there, along with a calculator, a wallet, a couple of CDs, a pack of gum and a half empty bottle of water.

"Well, we can try it…" Slider opened the bottle of water and put a little on his hand. Feeling as awkward as anything, he patted Matt's face stiffly. Nothing happened. He finally took the bottle and poured it onto Matt's face, wondering if he was even doing the right thing.

Matt started. He moaned brokenly and his eyelids fluttered open.

"God," he croaked. "What the hell happened?" He didn't move. He just stayed on the ground, his face soaked; looking up at Slider, still crouched next to him.

"Ledge got you with a cytaser. You're lucky it wasn't on kill." Slider said. The worry for Matt being paralyzed was fading. "Can you move at all?"

"I…think so," Matt said, groaning as he tried to raise his head. "Everything feels so numb and heavy."

"Cytasers have that effect." Slider held out his hand. Matt lifted his arm as though it was made of lead and grasped the hand.

"Just a second," he said, breathing hard. "You really should just leave me behind and go after Inez. I can deal."

Slider didn't say anything. He was pretty sure it was too late to go after Inez and beat them to their destination. Not that it wasn't too late to rescue Inez; a murky plan for that was already forming in his mind. It was too late to chase after Ledge and have a full-fledged coupe race.

"Slider, go. There's not a moment to lose. She could be in trouble." Matt gasped out, finally pulling himself up and standing on his feet shakily.

"Matt. Now's not the time for that."

"What do you mean? You're going to let Ledge take her?" Matt lurched at Slider, angry, but unable to fight.

"No, I really want to rescue Nezzie. But look. If Ledge wanted to kill her, he would have done it and left her body at the coupe. He's probably got some plan, remember, we heard him say something about his 'master plan'? She's safe, for now. At least, as safe as she'll be with Ledge. What we need to do is get back to Radopolis."

"Why?"

"It's closer than Control Central. I've got a few cyberblasters hidden away."

"Where did you get the weaponry, Sly?" Matt asked. The boys had started walking back to the coupe, having wordlessly decided so. Matt was limping and Slider was staying behind walking right beside him.

"Dad always had a few things, especially after Hacker betrayed Motherboard. Fat load of good they did him, but there you have it. And I've…added a few. You could say I like to tinker with stuff."

"Inventing weapons are we?" Matt grimaced as his ankle almost gave out. "Damn that cytaser."

"Not inventing. More like fixing."

"So we arm ourselves and take down Ledge and Hacker single-handedly."

"No offense but you're not really up for that," Slider pointed out as Matt stumbled yet again. He grit his teeth in frustration. His limbs were like lead, heavy and hard to bend. His mind seemed to be fuzzy and it still felt as though electricity was coursing through his body.

"It doesn't matter if I'm up or not. It matters if I have to do it. What are the weapons for?"

"We're going to grab squak pads. I have some. Marbles gave me the plans and I made a few."

"Keeping busy Sly?"

"Hey, I don't know about your guys' world, but it's been six years."

"Same here. I never did figure out how the time differences worked."

Slider shrugged. "Let's stay on topic. Grab squak pads, get in touch with Digit and Jackie and see if we can get Marbles. Trade our coupe in for a racer and land on the Northern Frontier unseen. Sneak in and find Inez, or at least find what cybersite he's hidden her on, and rescue her."

"What then?"

"That's why we need Jackie and Digit. They can help round up a few parts and we'll pick up some parts and then we'll try and upload Motherboard."

"So what will be done about Ledge and Hacker?" Matt demanded. He wanted justice. Forget what he said about not wanting to come back. This was the life he'd used to lead and being zapped in the chest had snapped him back into realizing he never could abandon this life. He was back to the young Matt who visited Cyberspace with his two friends. And one of those friends was in danger and he wanted justice enacted on those who had caused that danger.

The coupe was finally visible.

"Matt, much as I want to tell you we'll bring the hammer down on them, I don't think we can do anything. Our main priorities are rescuing Inez and rebooting Motherboard. If we spend our time fighting Ledge and Hacker, we lose the window of time to reboot Motherboard and Cyberspace is out of a ruler."

"Then what are the weapons for?"

"Inez had a point. It's probably the safest thing to do. Why go unarmed when we know that at least Ledge has a cytaser he's not afraid to use?"

Slider opened the side door for Matt to climb in. Matt glared at Slider. He knew the 'borg was right, but it didn't mean he had to like the plan and it didn't mean he had to be grateful to Slider for helping him while he was still in this aftershock phase.

"I think it's best if I drive," Slider said, climbing in himself.

"Whatever."

* * *

"Nice to see you're still alive," Ledge said to Inez as he neared the bubble.

"Like you actually care," Inez sneered, standing up from the heap she'd been in. She refused to show weakness.

"I kind of do," Ledge said looking up at her. They locked eyes; Inez wouldn't blink but Ledge just laughed. "Without you, I couldn't distract your friends. If you're dead they'd pull the whole 'Inez would want us to move on and find the parts'."

Inez didn't say anything. There was nothing she could do. It frustrated her more that nothing was happening, that she was effectively blocked from being able to escape, and Ledge wasn't torturing her or being a pompous villain who revealed all his plans. He was cool and calm and she was stuck.

* * *

"Jackie, I can't keep this up much longer!" Digit screeched, firing another blast out at Zipp. The twins had cyberblasters of their own and one was firing while the other one was using the battering ram on the door.

"Just a sec, Dig," Jackie called. At the last minute, Digit has decided he could handle the twins and Jackie should be looking for squak pads so they could call Matt and Inez back if it was possible. Jackie was in another cupboard and was kind of buried underneath boxes as she searched for the communication devices.

"It's kind of an EMERGENCY!" Digit called, firing another shot, but missing horribly. He had only used a cyberblaster once or twice. Dr. Marbles and Motherboard had never pushed using weapons, for Hacker had never used weapons against them. Because of all that, Digit's aim was worthless. He was managing to send enough blasts to keep the robots at bay for a little while, but not enough to permanently deter them.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Jackie snapped, trying to wade her way out of the closet. Her foot caught on one of the boxes and she fell, wind milling her arms to try and catch on to something. She clawed at one of the shelves, but it just came down on top of her.

"Arrghh!" She wailed in frustration, trying to get out of the mess. Kicking and pushing the boxes and knick-knacks and junk away, Jackie finally got out of the closet. And there, right from one of the boxes that fell, was the old squak pads.

"Digit! I found them!"

"Fantastic, Jackie. A little help?"

Jackie ran to the door and grabbed her cyberblaster. Digit was up at the top entrance, trying to fend off the side entrance. Instead of going up to help him, Jackie went to the window and unlatched it just enough to poke her weapon through. She swallowed, aimed and fired.

The orange bot, Zipp, fell to the ground. Before she could think again, she fired again and Zapp collapsed as well. The two bots had fallen into heaps of twitching metal. After a second, they exploded in a flash of broken circuits, metal and glass. After the resounding crash, all that was left was two spots of ash.

It felt like forever before Jackie could move. She had frozen, with her cyberblaster still out the window. The longer she waited to speak or move, the more she felt as though she should just stay there forever. It wasn't as though she had regretted what she had done; she just didn't want to face anyone for a long time. She wanted to stand still forever.

"Jacks?" Digit asked tentatively. He wasn't sure what he'd just saw. Jackie had aimed and fired like a marksman. She'd just killed two bots in cold-blood.

"What." She whispered.

"Are you okay?"

Jackie turned around slowly, revealing a drained face.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Digit flew over to her. He eased her backwards and pulled the cyberblaster out of her hand. Jackie still didn't move of her own volition.

"Jackie, I'll just…" Digit didn't finish the sentence; he walked over to the squak pads. Maybe, just maybe, he could get a hold of the other squak pads, the ones that Slider had built for fun a couple years back. If Inez and Matt hadn't already reached him, or if they all were in some kind of trouble, Digit could see what was happening. That is, if the squak pads weren't affected by the jammed signal. All other forms of communication had been broken, and Digit and Marbles hadn't touched the squak pads, because no one had used them ever since the Earthlies had left.

"Where are you, Slider?" Digit muttered, trying to remember the code of the other squak pads. He glanced back at Jackie, who had sat on a chair, staring at the wall, a statue. "Jackie, don't worry."

"I'm not, Dig," she snapped, shaking her head as if there was water in her ears. She was trying to snap out of whatever she was in.

"Got it!" Digit said, having hit the right numbers. Slider's face appeared on the screen. "Slider, are Matt and Inez with you?"

"Umm, well, Matt's with me," Slider said. He looked uncomfortable.

"Where's Inez?" Jackie called out from her chair.

"Jackie?" Slider asked.

Jackie stood up and walked over to Digit and the squak pad.

"Where's Inez?" she repeated.

"Ledge…has her."

"WHAT?" Digit squawked. Jackie didn't say anything. The rush of adrenaline from shooting Zipp and Zapp was returning, rushing through her head.

"What do you need us to do?" she asked.

"Well, Matt said there isn't any other transport." Slider pointed out.

"I'll find something," Jackie said, confidently.

"If you can, we need you to continue to look for the parts," Slider said.

"But I'm not the best tech-y in the world," she said slowly.

"New plan," Matt said, jutting in on the screen. "Slider, you go pick up Jackie and find the parts and fix Motherboard. I will rescue Inez, or at least, distract Ledge and Hacker long enough so that Inez stays safe, and Motherboard is fixed."

"Sounds like a plan," Slider shrugged. "I'll be at Control Central within ten minutes."

"Ten?" Matt asked. "Aren't you taking the coupe?"

"I may have, um, tuned up the engine while you searched for the squak pads."

"Whatever," Matt said, "We have got to run. Slider, get me a cyberblaster. Jacks, Dig, see you later."

The screen shut off. Jackie smiled, in spite of herself. Things were about to get exciting. Things were about to get done.

* * *

"So Motherboard's down for good," Hacker probed. He'd strutted into the control room and was trying to talk to Ledge, who was at the controls feverishly typing and hitting buttons.

"Not exactly Hacker."

"Wait, you said you had it covered! What kind of an idiotic ignoramus goes and"- "Hacker, give it a REST!" Ledge snapped. "I don't know about you, but this is a complicated plan I've got. If we don't play our cards right we're screwed. Just let me work out this encoding."

_Encoding?_ Inez whipped her head around to Ledge and Hacker. She hadn't been paying much attention to them; she was wallowing in frustration and claustrophobia and sarcasm. Ledge caught her watching them.  
"Hacker," Ledge jerked his head at Inez.

"Oh, the Earth brat." Hacker snorted. "Because she'll really help you in your plan. If it was me I would have shot her on the spot."

"Because you've never had the chance to do it?" Ledge said, rolling his eyes. "Hacker, you may have learned a thing or two about chaos in six years, but you still underestimate the other side."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ledge didn't say anything. He was watching Inez who was watching him avidly.

"Listening, are we?"

"Does it matter?" Inez tried to be as snarky as possible.

"Not really. It's not like you can do anything." He shrugged and went back to typing. Hacker watched him, but Ledge wasn't paying attention. After a few minutes, Hacker left, but Ledge continued typing like a maniac.

"I've got it!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Inez asked, hoping to get something out of him while he was excited.

Ledge smiled at her. "Oh, it's even better than I hoped. I might not be needing you."

Inez's heart started racing and her hands trembled. She didn't want to be shot; she agreed with Ledge that Hacker probably wouldn't do it. But Ledge would do it in an instant.

"Don't worry Inez. I won't kill you. But I'm out of here. Give Hacker my best regards." Ledge strolled out of the control room, a satisfied smile on his face.

Inez slammed herself into the side of the force field, but it wouldn't give way. Sliding back down to the bottom, she sighed. This was maddening.

* * *

"What's an epsilondria?" Jackie asked Slider. They were in the coupe, cruising through Cyberspace. The atmosphere in the coupe was a little awkward; Jackie and Slider had never really been alone in the past. Jackie knew about Slider's past with Inez; Inez had discussed it with her. Sure, she had thought Slider was cute when they met him, and she'd done her share of flirting, but the 'borg seemed pretty oblivious. And now, she didn't really care. She had other things to think about.

"It's a thing that kind of…connects two different parts and fits them to work together. Like an adapter or something."

"That's cool," Jackie said, hitting the accelerator gently. "Which site do we need to 'borrow' from?"

Slider grinned. "You picked it up faster than Inez."

"Well, I'm good like that."

Slider lit up a cigarette.

"When did you start smoking?"

"Not long ago. I picked it up from a Radster who helped me and Dad out during the summer. Good guy, bad habit."

"You could quit." Jackie suggested, but she was just making conversation by now. It didn't matter what Slider was doing, as long as he said where they needed to go.

"I could. It helps me think, though. Besides, we're off topic. I should be telling you where to go."

"Exactly."

"Ecohaven."

"The jungle?"

"There's a couple of towns on the fringe of the jungle and one specializes in outdated parts. I know one of the workers, too, so stealing might be easier. Or harder, depending on his mood."

When they arrived at Ecohaven, Jackie swerved to avoid an unexpected tree and the coupe hit the ground hard, skidding into the dirt.

"Need to work on the landing," Slider said, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "Just a little bit."

There was a booth up in the distance.

"Okay," Slider briefed Jackie. "The guy who runs this is Gavin. He's a bit…full of himself. He cleans up the forest, repurposes the parts and then sells them. We may be able to convince him to give us the part, but if not, I need you to pull a distraction so that I can slip the parts in my backpack. Got it?"

"Got it. But what kind of a distraction are you looking for?"

"Whatever works for you."

Jackie nodded and they headed for the booth. A younger guy, maybe sixteen or so was sitting in the booth. He was on the short side, with broad shoulders and a flat nose. He had a curly mop of black hair and bushy eyebrows.

"Gavin!" Slider called, his voice and demeanor becoming casual and friendly. "How's it been?"

"Hey Sly," Gavin nodded, "Good enough. Had a huge order of alpha decks in yesterday. Wanna look? You know my decks are the best. Perfect for all your little tinkering projects."

Jackie tried not to snicker. Slider was right, the guy just had an air of thinking that he was the best out of everyone else.

"Nah. Gavin, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I was hired to do some repairs on Motherboard, but I'm low on money and the Doc's out of the area, so I can't get an advance for the parts. You mind giving me the parts and then I'll get the Doc to repay you in a couple of days?"

"Nice try, Sly. The Doc always comes and buys his parts himself. You think I'm going to fall for that? If you want a part, you gotta buy it. Too poor to pay for one of best boards in Cyberspace?"

"Gavin, this is serious."

"You're never serious Slider. Who's your friend, anyways?" Gavin turned his attention to Jackie. She looked at Slider briefly, then turned back to Gavin, a bright smile plastered on her face. She was a cheerleader, after all.

"I'm Jackie. Where do you get all these parts?"

"I search the jungle for broken down coupes, or trash purposely dumped here, or the chunks of flotsam that hit the atmosphere and fall. When I find them, I fix them. Slider can't figure out how I do it," Gavin bragged, "But some of us are just better at mechanics than others."

Jackie wanted to roll her eyes, but instead she stared at Gavin in awe. "Wow, you must be so good at this stuff. Slider says it's so hard to be a mechanic."

"Oh, it's only hard if you don't know what you're doing."

"Could you show me some of your best parts you've repurposed?" Jackie said, leaning in flirtatiously. "The best thing Slider ever did was fix a Syncolater."

"That's so easy," Gavin said, "Alpha deck, Beta board, Kappatron."

"It took him forever," Jackie said, getting tired of stroking Gavin's ego. The guy was getting more and more annoying by the minute. He reminded Jackie of the quarterback at her old school. The guy had been convinced that he was better than the NFL combined and had spent his time running after Jackie, hoping she'd go out with him. Jackie could deal with impulsive hotheads who had the emotional range of a teaspoon like Matt, or "bad boy", smoking loners like Slider, but arrogant jerks were terrible.

"Well, if you want, you can come back here and I'll show you the new omegapulse I've perfected. It's a bit of an outdated part, but I think the part is so interesting. I have an interested buyer, but that's confidential. Here, take a look." Gavin held the booth door open for Jackie and she slipped in and looked at the omegapulse, far more shiny and high-tech than the piece of junk in the back of the coupe that Slider had said would work.

Jackie saw Slider slip his hand into his backpack, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Well, it's been great meeting you, but it's probably time I got going. Got to help Slider with his tinkering," Jackie gushed, leaning in and touching Gavin on the shoulder lightly. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

Gavin smiled back at her, obviously pleased he'd successfully flirted with a pretty girl. Jackie turned about quickly, hiding something under her shirt.

"Come on Sly," she said, gesturing towards the coupe. They walked away briskly.

"You might want to pick up the pace," Jackie whispered.

"Why? It'll take him a little longer to notice the missing epsilondria and kappatron."

"You stole a kappatron?" Jackie was momentarily distracted, though she kept trying to walk faster.

"Yeah; he pissed me off, so I decided not to head over to Tikiville to pick up the kappatron. Don't worry; he won't miss it for a while."

"He'll miss his omegapulse though," Jackie whispered.

"HEY! SLIDER! JACKIE!" Gavin yelled.

"Let's run," Jackie said, and they took off, reaching the coupe in seconds. Jackie flung herself into the driver's seat and threw the coupe into gear, with Slider making it into the other side just as the vehicle rose.

"You stole his omegapulse?" Slider asked, looking awed.

"He pissed me off too," Jackie said. The two looked at each other and started laughing. They didn't stop laughing for several minutes. As they calmed down, Jackie became serious.

"I sure hope Matt's okay."

Slider nodded and lit up a cigarette.

"We need to head back to Control Central. I think we can cobble together something and bring Motherboard back."

**There we go! And I'm handing out imaginary cookies to everyone who caught the Harry Potter reference. If you want to tell me what you thought, go right ahead! I'm not stopping you. :) Wonderful holidays everyone!**


	6. Inez and Matt Finally Admit Something

**Well, I have a cold now and I'm stuck inside in my bed with absolutely nothing to do. Nothing, that is, except post another chapter! So here you go. And I finally, finally, FINALLY figured out how to format this so that the different paragraphs were separate. My type-A is now happy. **

Meanwhile, Matt had his hands gripping the wheel of Slider's racer. The racer was nice; but it was touchy and violent. Matt would barely press his foot on the accelerator and the things would rocket forward, lurching and twisting so much he was glad he had the sense to strap himself in. He was trying to go as fast as he could, steering accurately and not fall out of the racer.

That is, until he saw Ledge.

The dark-haired double-crosser was speeding straight towards Matt, who jerked the racer to the side just in time. Matt had had a good ten seconds to see that Inez was not in Ledge's coupe.

_If he's done anything to her, I'll kill him_ Matt thought grimly. _It'll be okay. Slider said that Ledge would've killed her on the spot if that's what his end was. But still. If anything's wrong…_

His knuckles were white and he was starting to lose the feeling in his fingers by the time the Northern Frontier appeared in the distance.

_Just land in the forest behind the Grim Wreaker's landing bay. You've got this, you've got this._ Matt was breathing hard, adrenaline pumping through him. He felt like this before any of his games. Scared to death, yet almost drunk on the adrenaline and excited at the thought of action. Only this wasn't basketball or baseball. This really was life or death, and it wasn't just him involved, but a friend. A friend that, Matt realized, he'd had feelings for since he was eleven. If only he knew how Inez felt. But that was for another day; he had to rescue her first, and leave the romance to someone else.

_Jackie and Slider, maybe_, Matt grinned nervously. An awkward joke always made things a little less tense.

Matt climbed out of the racer and started for the landing bay, trying to be as indiscreet as possible. It was easy to get into the landing bay and hide behind trash cans, like he had done before with Inez and Jackie, but to get into the Grim Wreaker was another story. That is, until Matt remembered the cyberblaster at his hip. He'd forgotten that Slider had handed it to him and told him to "Save Nezzie and kick Ledge's butt."

_And yet a bit ago he said vengeance was a bad idea?_ Matt laughed at how Slider had switched sides. But no worries; Matt wasn't about to shoot someone. He was going to shoot something. A vent at the bottom of the cybership was an easy target. He fired, sending a burst of light upwards. It hit the vent with a satisfying explosion.

_I hope that Hacker didn't hear that_. Matt slithered up into the vent. He didn't know where Inez was, but he figured he'd start at the control room and work from there.

It was a tight squeeze in the vent. Matt's shoulders were so broad that he had to stay on a diagonal in the vent to get through easier. Using his feet he propelled himself farther along, catching a glimpse of rooms and he passed below them. Storage, closets, kitchen, dungeon, bedrooms…the control room had to be coming up soon.

"Where is that blasted kid?" a voice snarled close to Matt's ear. He started, slamming awkwardly into the metal wall. His breath caught in his throat.

_Does Hacker know I'm here? Did Ledge see me and warn Hacker?_ This was not working out the way he'd hoped. What good was he to Inez if Hacker caught him? Matt stayed in the vent, looking out one of the vent covers into Hacker's lounge. Hacker wasn't looking at him, but at a laptop.

"Where are you Ledge?" Hacker snarled again.

_Oh, so he was talking about Ledge. Wait, he doesn't know where Ledge is? That means Ledge is up to something Hacker doesn't know about. God, I've got a bad feeling about that._ Matt shook his head. _Now's not the time. Think about Inez._

One good thing about Ledge betraying Hacker was that Hacker was busy in his lounge, trying to track his location down. This gave Matt at least a few minutes to wrangle into the control room, which had to be one of the next few rooms. He pulled himself forward.

"What was that?" Hacker said, suddenly, turning towards the wall.

_Damn._

After a second, Hacker dismissed the noise and turned back to the laptop. Matt wiggled forward and finally passed the lounge. He kept pulling forward. The next room was another storage space. Finally, the control room came into his vision. Matt kicked forward one last time and reached the vent cover. He rattled the vent, trying not to make too much noise. The vent was pretty loose, so he balled his hand into a fist and knocked the cover in the center. It fell off, and Matt began the arduous process of climbing out of the vent. The hole he had made was smaller than the tunnel he had wedged himself into.

"Screw this," Matt muttered and wrangled the cyberblaster from his belt. Wrapping the weapon in the fold of his sweater to muffle it as best he could, Matt fired and a chunk of wall went across the room. Luckily, it wasn't the loudest explosion. He waited for Hacker to come barging in, but nothing happened. Matt crawled out, dusted himself off and got to his feet. He scanned the room for Inez.

She was there, in midair, limply dangling. Matt's heart started beating faster, not out of warm feelings for Inez, but out of fear. It was an eerie spectacle, Inez suspended in the air, her eyes closed and her body not moving. He ran towards her and reached up to her, ready to pull her down and see what Ledge had done. Right as his fingers were about to touch Inez, a blast of electricity pulsed up Matt's arm and he catapulted backwards, hitting the wall.

Inez jumped up, suddenly awake.

"Matt?" She whispered.

Matt didn't answer for a minute. The shock might not have been too bad, but coupled with his first shock which he'd only just gotten over, it was painful.

"Matt, are you okay?" She said, a little louder.

"Yeah, just…give me a second Nezzie."

Inez didn't protest at the nickname. Right then, Matt could have called her an idiot and she would have been okay with it. He was okay, even after Ledge had shot him with the cytaser. She couldn't believe that he was right there, ready to break her out, even if it did end up with him on the floor, electrocuted yet again.

After a few quiet seconds that seemed to stretch on longer than they were supposed to, Matt stood up, cracking his neck. His hair was smoking again and his eyes felt as though they would be opened wide for hours.

"Okay, Inez. How do I get you down?"

"I don't know. I woke up in here after Ledge beaned me on the head. It's obviously some sort of force field bubble with an electric shock protection."

"Obviously," Matt snorted. He wasn't mad at Inez, just irritated he'd been shocked twice in the past few hours.

"You could try the computer." Inez suggested. Matt nodded, figuring he didn't have any other option. He walked over to the controls and began hitting a few buttons.

**Begin program? **Appeared on the screen.

Matt hit **Y**, hoping it was the program that brought Inez down.

**Access denied. Computer with outer terminals needed.**

****"Outer terminals?" Matt wondered aloud.

"It usually refers to a computer in our world that has a connection to the computers in this world." Inez whisper-shouted from her bubble. "Like the library computer we used and accidentally ruined Motherboard."

"Why does Ledge need an outer terminal computer?" Matt asked.

"You got me."

**Outer terminal needed for decoding and permanent deleting of large codes.** Matt had pressed "More info".

"Deleting of large codes…Inez, I think he's found a way to delete what's left of Motherboard!"

"What? No! Large codes…that could mean other cybersites, too! Matt, we've got to get out of here!"

"I'm trying, Inez, I'm trying."

**Remove force field?**

Matt hit **Y** as violently as he could. There was a buzz and then a crash. Inez had fallen to the floor with a yelp.

"Shhhh," Matt whispered, going over to her. Her hair had frizzed in a thousand directions and her glasses were askew. It didn't matter. Forget what he said about leaving the romance to Jackie and Slider. He took Inez's hands and pulled her up, then pulled her to him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Don't ever do that again," he said.

"Do what?" Inez said, her voice quiet against Matt's shoulder.

"Ever get caught by Ledge, scare the crap out of me, and make me think I might not get to see you again."

Inez pulled away from him. "Well, don't you ever get shot again and make me think that you died, or at least were paralyzed beyond repair."

"Deal," Matt said, smiling down on her. They were still close enough so that Inez was worrying Matt might hear how fast her heart was beating, and it had nothing to do with fear, like it had been like for both of them for the past few hours. This moment there was no Hacker, there was no Ledge, it was just Inez and Matt and…

"I'm so glad you're safe," Matt said, reaching out and putting his hand on Inez's shoulder. "I thought…"

"What?" Inez asked, not taking her eyes off of Matt's face. She had never realized how many freckles were spattered across his nose. Matt wasn't looking her in the eye. It was so close to being like one of the fantasies she'd entertained herself with while waiting on Topsy-Turvy Island, but Matt wasn't looking at her anymore and the hand on her shoulder felt like something an older brother would do, not something a crush would do. Matt's eyes were on the floor now. But then, in a millisecond, his arms were back around Inez and he was kissing her. She leaned in to him, not caring how fast her heart was beating now.

They broke apart, both suddenly embarrassed.

"We really need to get out of here," Matt said, taking Inez's hand. He helped her into the vent and went in after her. They squirmed through back to the entrance.

As they ran back to Slider's racer, Inez turned serious again.

"Do you think Ledge is trying to get into the real world to delete Motherboard permanently?"

"I sure hope not," Matt said, "But in either case, we've got to get back to Control Central. Slider and Jackie better be done by now."

* * *

Ledge walked straight into Control Central. He knew Digit would try to shoot him, but without the good aim of Jackie, the cybird was useless. One shot from the cytaser left Digit incapable of anything. Ledge didn't know if he'd stunned or killed the bird and frankly, he didn't care. He wasn't about to waste time and see what he'd done.

He was going to the real world.

Motherboard's circuits were corroded and in some cases, entirely missing, but Ledge knew what he was doing. As expressionless and unblinking as a statue, Ledge coolly began pressing buttons on the control panel. Unlike a half hour ago, when he was typing maniacally in the Grim Wreaker, he was slow and methodical. He knew he only had one shot to get it right. And he needed to get it right.

He hit the sequence of buttons one last time, three, seven, two…

A bright pink portal appeared above him

"So long Cyberspace," he said, a smile spreading across his face. He'd never traveled by portal before, but he understood it in theory. Keeping his knees bent and his arms in, Ledge propelled forward, through the swirling pink mists of code.

Out of nowhere, Dr. Marbles appeared. There had been absolutely nothing, and then there was Dr. Marbles. Ledge and the Doctor collided.

"What are you doing here?" Marbles demanded, but there was a burst of energy within the portal and the two men were blown in separate directions.

"Enjoy yourself while you can!" Ledge called cheekily.

"Where are you going?" Marbles yelled, but he was already a speck in the distance. Ledge waited for the jolt of reaching the end of the portal. He was not disappointed; he hit the surface of the portal and spilled out onto a carpeted floor. He stood up quickly, sweeping off his shoulders as he did so. He took stock of where he was. It appeared to be a library, but there was something different about it. He didn't know if the Earth kids ever realized it, but the real world had a different aura than Cyberspace. The colors were a little duller, but there was a deeper look to everything-Cyberspace looked like a cheap three dimensional knock off compared to this place where everything was sharp and one hundred percent right there. Ledge reached out to a bookshelf to steady himself. The change made his head fuzz for a minute, but it cleared.

"Okay," he said to himself, "Let's find an outer terminal computer."

**No crazy references this time, just another lovely cliffhanger. And I guess I lied about not putting romance in this. But they're so funny together! Anyways, remember I like to hear what you think. That was a hint, in case you were wondering. :P **


	7. It's For The Best

**Okay, okay, okay; I know I'm updating really soon after the last one, but school starts in a couple days and I want to get this finished so that I don't leave the story hanging and then get wrapped up in paper writing-ew-and forget about posting the next chapters. Hey, I said I was type-A. Anyways, it's bad enough that my own characters have a mind of their own, but now characters that I don't own have minds of their own. I started out with the intention that Jackie and Slider would never get together, but dangit, they changed their minds without informing me of it. :) Oh well, I'll stop talking now; you're probably not even listening by now.**

"Faster!" Slider urged Jackie.

"I'm going as fast as this sucker will go," she snapped at him. They were going at least twice as fast as Inez and Matt had gone on their way to Radopolis.

_That's how these things work out_, Jackie thought, slamming her foot on the accelerator and whipping the steering wheel sideways. The coupe turned vertical, and Slider, who hadn't buckled himself in, toppled off his seat and onto Jackie. _We start these things out as fast as we can, thinking it won't get any more hectic, but it never fails to get pushed up to eleven._

"Get off of me!" Jackie said, not letting go of the steering wheel. It felt as though if she let go for a second, they'd be spinning out of control, crashing into the floating cybertrash. The coupe was still on its side, so while Slider tried to get his footing and jump back into his seat, he only managed to slide further onto Jackie. She had strapped herself in as was required and her head was the only thing hanging downwards as they continued their sideways plunge, dodging bits of trash. Slider's waist had caught on Jackie's seat's armrest, his legs tangled in the small area between the two seats and his torso awkwardly hanging across Jackie.

"I'm trying," Slider said, valiantly struggling for a foothold. Jackie jerked the steering wheel back and they returned to the right position. Slider flew back into his seat; his hair had fallen out of its ponytail and was tousled.

"You might want to buckle up," Jackie said mildly, trying not to laugh. Slider glared at her.

"You might want to go faster," he said, reluctantly strapping himself into his seat.

"I'm trying," she said. "You have all the parts? Didn't you say something about cryoxide and wire?"

"If the Doc doesn't have any lying around Control Central, we can make do with the stuff in the coupe. Look, it's no time to be getting anything fancy. Let's just get this thing done as quick as we can."

"Yeah, but what happened to three days?"

"I just have a really bad feeling," Slider said. It was true. As soon as they had pulled out of Ecohaven's atmosphere, a creeping feeling had come over him and he couldn't shake it off. It felt as though they wouldn't make it in time, but he didn't know why.

"Call Matt and see how he is."

Slider pulled out his squak and dialed Matt.

Inez's face appeared on the screen.

"Nezzie! Are you okay?" Slider asked. Inez smiled.

"I'm fine. Matt got me out and we're on our way back to Control Central. We need to get back there as soon as possible. We think Ledge is up to something."

"Well, duh," Jackie said, punching at the accelerator with her foot.

"Jacks," Inez said, rolling her eyes. "We mean, like, something more than what he's already done. He was looking for an outer terminal computer."

Slider swore. "That's not a good thing for him to have."

"Exactly," Matt's voice came from off screen. "So we're trying to get to Control Central as soon as we can."

"Well, we're on our way," Slider said, "See you guys in a"-

"This is an emergency! I repeat, this is an emergency!" Doctor Marbles voice emerged from the squak pad.

"Doc, what's going on?" Slider asked, catching on faster than the rest of the Squad, who were either driving too hard to pay attention, dumbfounded or…well, Slider didn't know exactly what Matt was doing.

"Discardia has been deleted." Marbles said, his face coming onto the screen. His face was no longer pale blue, but bright red in frustration.

"Discardia? The dump?"

"Yes. I know no one lives there, but it means that Ledge made it to the real world. He's found an outer terminal computer and now holds all of Cyberspace in his hands."

"You heard the 'borg," Slider said, "Go!"

"I'M DRIVING AS FAST AS THIS HEAP WILL GO!"

"Step on it Matt." Slider heard Inez said, a laugh disguised in her voice. "On it, Nezzie."

* * *

Slider and Jackie pulled onto the landing bay at the same time Matt and Inez did. Matt's hair was still smoking, but no one said anything. The four raced to the stairs and up to the main room. Digit was wandering around the room, a dazed look on his face. Marbles was at Motherboard, cutting wires and soldering them back together.

"It's good to see you four back," Marbles said, almost mechanically. "I'm trying to get Motherboard back online but there isn't enough energy to get anything together and I'm missing parts-"

"Don't worry Doc," Slider reassured him. "I've got everything to bring her back."

Marbles took stock of the parts in his hands.

"Interesting. Unorthodox idea, but quite possibly-" Slider cut Marbles off again. "I'll just start working on it. Doc, can you get Ledge back to Cyberspace?"

"Yes, but I'm going to do something that none of you will agree to."

"What?" Inez asked.  
"Nothing you three should worry about. Tend to Digit." Dr. Marbles exchanged a look with Slider, both of them grim.

"What's going on?" Matt demanded, though the girls went over to Digit. Digit had been stunned by the cytaser and seemed to be disoriented.

"Dig, you okay?" Inez asked.

"Yeah, Nezzie, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. I just need to give Motherboard a tune-up while the Doc's away…Wait, what are you and Jacks doing in Cyberspace? You guys haven't been back in years."

"Dr. Marbles called us back, remember Dig?" Jackie said, "We barricaded the entrances and I shot Zapp and Zipp. Don't you remember?"

"You shot who?" Inez said, about-facing to Jackie.

"Zapp and Zipp. They're Hacker's new henchbots. Or were, anyways."

Inez stared at Jackie. "What happened to Buzz and Delete?"

"No idea. Come on, Dig, don't you remember?"

Dig shook his head, confused. He turned to hear Matt start shouting at Dr. Marbles, who was at a computer. Slider had stepped aside and was beginning on the contraption that he'd said would bring Motherboard back. He had his head ducked over the parts, but Digit still caught the look of disapproval on his face. Jackie saw it too, but Inez was too busy watching Matt, who had begun yelling at the Doctor.

"What do you mean, 'it's for the best'?!"

"I mean what I said Matthew. You should be willing to give up this for the good of Cyberspace."

"I'd give anything for Cyberspace. I'd give my life for Cyberspace. But you want to just cut off the connection forever?"

"What?" Inez stood up and walked over to Marbles and Matt. Marbles finished his work on the computer and shut the screen off.

"I hate to break it to you in this way," Marbles began, "But I have permanently destroyed the connection between the real world and Cyberspace."

* * *

Ten minutes had passed, yet the worlds of Matt, Jackie and Inez had just been horribly tilted so that they didn't know exactly what would happen to them. Slider watched them argue relentlessly with the Doctor while he put the finishing touches on his project. He felt sorry for the kids; being told that they could never go back home and they didn't have a say or choice must be hard. He wished the decision had been left up to him, because he would have picked another option. But Marbles had already pulled the plug, and it wasn't hard. Sometimes, not always, the ends justify the means, and Marbles understood that saving Cyberspace from imminent destruction was more important than Jackie, Matt and Inez going back home. But watching them face their future was hard. Matt was furious, trying to fight and bargain with Dr. Marbles. Inez was trying to be the voice of reason, saying that she understood the Doc's motives, but thought they could solve the problem in another way. Jackie, on the other hand, seemed to have lost heart and just watched everyone else.

Slider caught her eye and smiled encouragingly. Within an hour of being in her company, he'd learned to like the girl he'd never really spoke with. She had plenty of energy and adrenaline within her small form. Jackie smiled back, but turned to continue watching the argument.

Slider poured cryoxide into his contraption and took it over to Motherboard's corroded circuits. He wondered if Motherboard would be able to reconnect to the real world and take the kids back home and bring Ledge to justice. He clicked the pile of parts into the circuitry and began soldering everthing together. He hesitated. This was it.

He hit the button on the omegapulse. A flare of light emerged from the circuitry, blazing as bright as the sun. The screen where Motherboard was usually situated began fuzzing with static.

Doctor Marbles and the earthlies quit arguing to watch what happened. Jackie came closer to the screen and Inez took Matt's hand, hoping no one would notice.

"C'mon, c'mon," Slider muttered. The screen went blank. "Dammit."

"What happened?" Digit asked.

A white dot appeared at the center of the screen. It grew larger and larger until the screen went black again. And then Motherboard appeared.

"YES!" Slider yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon." Ledge didn't realize that he was muttering this the exact same time that Slider had said the same thing. He had found the computer that the kids had originally used, just as he had hoped. He inserted the disk with the program he had created. The test run had permanently deleted Discardia, but the real program was more difficult to get running.

**Access denied.**

"What the hell?" Ledge swore. He tried again.

**Access denied.**

He clicked 'More Info'.

**Outer terminal no longer exists.**

"Wait a second," Ledge said aloud. "Marbles wouldn't have…would he?"

"Can I help you with anything, sir?" A short brunette with a quirked smile came up. Her name tag read "Skye".

"No," Ledge said, turning away from her.

"Sir, that is our library catalogue and you are obviously using something besides the catalogue. I'm going to have to ask you to turn off whatever you are on and please leave the library."

Ledge couldn't decide whether to listen to her and come back later, or take his rage out on the librarian. He opted for a combination of the two. Shoving Skye aside, he made for the door, finally used to the differences of the real world.

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop." A burly man in a blue suit appeared. Perhaps some Earth version of a sheriff. It probably was just like Cyberspace and there was no organized law enforcement. Hopefully they didn't send three children to do the dirty work, but this man could hardly stop Ledge.

"Well, prepare to be disappointed," Ledge said, shrugging and continuing to walk out of the library.

"Stop." The man said.

"Fine." Ledge turned, whipping his cytaser out. The man pulled out a gun instantly.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"About to shoot off this idiot who won't let me leave," Ledge said, starting to breathe heavily.

"Shoot an officer and get your ass thrown in jail," the man snapped.

"Officer? For what?"

"For the Persing County Police," the man said and he fired.

* * *

"So Ledge is in the real world?" Motherboard had listened to the entire story by now, and Marbles had just finished with how he'd deleted the connection with the real world.

"Yes."

"Can he cause any damage?" Motherboard inquired.

"He can't do anything too terrible before law enforcement catches up with him," Dr. Marbles pointed out. "I assume he'll be in jail before long."

"One last thing," Motherboard said, eyeing the three earthlies. Matt had his arm protectively around Inez and Jackie was sitting on a chair, filing her nails in quick, frustrated strokes. "While it's impossible to send anyone back to Earth, how do we make up for the face that three Earthlies have just disappeared off the face of the planet? Their families will be distraught."

Matt though of his mother, who had blown him off good-humoredly only that morning. Had it only been this morning? So many things had happened since then. She would never see him again, and he would never see her. He was trying to grapple with the cold truth that he would remain in Cyberspace for the rest of his life.

"I have a way to erase memories," Slider spoke up. Inez turned to him, horrified.

"I wouldn't want my parents to forget me. Besides, aren't we unable to communicate with the real world at all?"

Slider shrugged. "I'm sure, with enough energy, we could send out one last signal. It would completely break off any chance of reviving the connection between the two worlds, though."

"You think there's still a connection?" Dr. Marbles asked Slider.

"Sure. Not strong enough to send anyone back or bring Ledge back. And the connection will die within the next few hours. But we could send out one last signal to erase the existence of Matt, Jackie and Inez from Earth. It would leave a clean slate. It would even affect Ledge."

Matt and Inez shared a look. Jackie caught Inez's eye and the girls began a silent argument with Matt staring at both of them.

"Would there ever be a chance of returning?" Inez asked, finally. "And if there was, would the memory wipe be permanent?"

"The memory could be revived if you regained the connection. But I'd say the connection would be impossible to renew." Slider said, his face sad. "I don't entirely agree with what was done. But now that it was done, I think it should be finished right."

Inez nodded slowly.

"Well, I say go." Jackie spoke up. "Let's get it over with. It's not like we can change anything."

Slider looked at Doctor Marbles. "You mind, Doc?"

"Not at all, Slider."

**Do not kill me for what I have done. Kill Ledge; it's all his fault for wanting to take over the world. Anyways, there's still a tad more left for the next chapter which I will post before school starts. We still have to wrap up a few loose ends...and then of course, I left it all on a lovely cliffhanger. See you soon!**


	8. Just How Life Goes

**This is it. The final chapter. It didn't exactly live up to my expectation, but, hey, when inspiration hits, you take what it gives you. School starts back on Monday and I'm busy all weekend, so the last chapter had to go up today. And here we go...**

It wasn't long before the idea of what happened next came up. Motherboard offered everyone the chance to stay at Control Central. Slider offered his garage. Once Marbles had released the news of everything that had happened the past few hours, several Cybersites offered spaces for the Cybersquad.

"I don't know what we're going to do," Inez said, "But I think we should separate for a while."

"What?" Jackie demanded, "You two just got together!"

"I think I understand," Matt said, slowly. "I think I kind of want a little time to myself. We have our entire lives, you know." He didn't mean it to be cruel, but the words stung. They even hurt himself.

"Fine," Jackie snorted, "I'm heading out then."

Slider almost went after her, but seemed to stop himself and watched with the rest of them as Jackie got in the coupe and flew off.

"I think I'm going to work at the Cybrary," Inez said to Matt. She looked at him hard and leaned forward, kissing him quickly. "Marbles, could you get me a portal?"

Slider smirked at Matt. "Well, looks like it's you and me, kid."

"Whatever," Matt said, smirking back.

* * *

The jail cell wasn't bad. Obviously, it was a jail cell, but not bad for a jail cell, Ledge reflected, looking at the wall bored beyond belief. His ankle throbbed from where the police officer had shot him. Apparently, threatening law enforcement—which was very organized on Earth, or at least in this America place—was a punishable offence.

"I'll break out," Ledge said, "And reboot the connection between this place and Cyberspace. It can't be permanent. And I'll get those Earthbrats to pay for…"

Something uncomfortable washed over Ledge. A shiver ran down his spine and he blacked out for a second.

He looked at the wall and remembered his entire life up to now. Growing up in Nowhere, deciding the world was a horrible place and that he would be even worse to the world, idolizing Hacker, creating a Hackerizer, and being defeated by…

_Wait, who pulled the plug on that machine? Who? I can't even remember…_

Inez, Jackie and Matt no longer existed on Earth.

* * *

Six months later.

* * *

Matt was in Slider's garage, trying to give the racer an oil change. Matt had asked Slider to let him work in the shop. It kept Matt's mind off of everything.

It was hard, knowing that there were only two other people who would ever understand you completely and that they were somewhere else because it was still a little painful for all three of them to be together and remember that it was just them, all alone in a world the trio had never planned on staying at permanently. It was even more painful to realize that there was a family out there that didn't even miss you, that didn't even know you ever existed.

Slider came into the garage and lit up a cigarette, watching Matt try to open a can of cryoxide with grimy fingers. Slider had thought the idea of the Cybersquad splitting up was a bad one, but had only voiced the opinion after everyone had left.

"You know, you don't have to work every single freaking hour of the day," Slider said, taking a drag off his cigarette.

"It's the only thing I feel like doing anymore, Sly," Matt said, rubbing his cheek and spreading a smear of grime across it. Slider chuckled.

"So you don't want to see her?"

Matt pretended not to understand. "Who?"

"Inez. I know you want to see her. Heck, I'd like to see her, and I'm not her boyfriend."

"I'm not her boyfriend. You know we all decided to stay apart."

Slider laughed. "Yeah, and it was a bad idea. You should fix that and go see her."

"What about Jackie?" Matt snapped.

"What do you mean? I'd like to see Jackie too."

"Well, why don't you talk to either of them?"

Slider shrugged. "I know that if I tried to do anything, it's just make it worse. So I just antagonize you to do what you should." He flicked some ash onto the ground. "Just a thought, man."

* * *

Inez was in the Cybrary, dusting shelves. It technically should have been a dream job, and she really enjoyed it most of the time. But she missed Earth and her family and it cut her every morning to realize she'd never get to see any of it again. But what hurt even more was the fact that she'd decided to spend some time away from Jackie and Matt. She missed both of them and it seemed they were getting on fine without her. So she just continued working for Ms. Fileshare and trying to make the best of it.

"Honey," Ms. Fileshare said to her, watching her climb down from the top shelf she'd been dusting. "I hate to see you like this. Why don't you go and visit Matthew or Jacqueline? I'm sure it would do all three of you a world of good."

"If they wanted to see me, they'd come and see me. They know where I am."

* * *

Jackie was living in Sensible Flats. She was working on a ranch and hating every minute of it. The family she worked for thought she was a hero for saving Cyberspace and it really was just a daily reminder that she couldn't go back home. She looked at her squak pad every night, hoping Matt or Inez had called her, but no dice. Days turned into weeks, which turned into months and she really didn't remember any of it; it was all just a grey, blank blur.

* * *

"Doc, I really think you need to call them back together," Slider said. "Matt's about to lose his mind, not being with the only other people like him."

"Understood. Motherboard and I will come up with something." The Doctor turned off his squak pad.

* * *

One week later, Matt and Slider pulled into Control Central.

"Stupid idea." Matt said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "This is so stupid. Why couldn't we have just stopped at the saving the world part. But now Motherboard has to make it official?"

Slider smiled. "I think you're in for a surprise, dude."

Matt pulled open the door. Inez and Jackie were sitting on a couch, talking a hundred miles an hour to the other one. Both were smiling for the first time in six months.

"MATT!" Inez lost control for once and ran at him. Surprised, Matt let her tackle him with a hug.

"Hey Nezzie," he said, his old grin returning.

_Screw keeping distance. Maybe it was good for a week or two, but this was ridiculous. Now it's time we reunited, once and for all._

Matt pulled apart from Inez and kissed her right in front of everyone. Slider looked at Jackie, a mischievous smile on his face. He walked over to her and plopped down on the couch next to her.

"I'm glad everyone's back together. If I had to endure one more day of Moody Matt…"

"It was a stupid idea," Jackie said. "But I think it taught us not to do it again."

"True," Slider said. "Like it or not, you guys are stuck here."

"Yeah…I don't really want to give up the idea that we could get back out."

Slider nodded. "It's hard to think we can't do something about it. But I'm pretty sure it's permanent."

"Well, at least Matt and Inez have each other," Jackie said, watching them break apart from quite a long kiss.

"They've got you too."

"That's not quite what I meant," Jackie wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, I know. But you've got me, and come on, I'm not that bad of a substitute, am I?"

Jackie rolled her eyes, but her stomach did a little flop. "No, you're fine."

The three Earthlies and the one Cyborg all squashed on the couch together for Digit to snap a picture of them. No one was feeling perfect at that moment, but everyone felt content with the life that was stretching ahead of them.

_Hey, it's just how life goes_, Matt thought to himself, his arm around a laughing Inez and his other arm trying to playfully shove Slider off the couch, with Jackie holding on to Slider so that he wouldn't fall. _That's just how life goes._

* * *

Ledge woke up from the dream he'd been having. Three faces seemed to taunt him in his dreams; three faces he could have sworn he'd seen before. Every time he woke up, though, the names and faces of the three individuals eluded him.

Until he tripped on the way to the highway patrol van. The other inmates had left him alone because there was obviously something inhuman about him. So when he tripped, there wasn't anyone jumping on top of him, trying to beat him into a pulp. His face skidded into the asphalt, but he was up in a flash.

And then he remembered.

Jackie.

Matt.

Inez.

_Now, to find a computer. If Marbles broke the connection like I think he did….I could renew the connection._

Ledge hadn't been in Cyberspace for almost a year. But he was going back.

**TADA! Yes, it's a cliffhanger. I'm sorry. :) There's a chance I might continue the story if enough people wanted it, but not at this exact moment. College calls and all. Anyways, it's been such a fun ride through Cyberspace and I just wanted to thank everyone one last time for reading, reviewing, following and favorite-ing. You guys are awesome! See you later. . .**

**Just A Writer For Now**


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